Open Season: Sportsmen supportive of American-made products

Sunday

Dec 9, 2012 at 12:01 AM

When HunterSurvey.com and AnglerSurvey.com sought to determine how much weight the "Made in U.S.A." label carried with sportsmen when making purchases of outdoor equipment, they found most respondents agreed that American-made products were of better quality and it was important to buy them. They also discovered, however, that there is only so much most hunters and anglers are willing to pay for that label.

MARC FOLCO

When HunterSurvey.com and AnglerSurvey.com sought to determine how much weight the "Made in U.S.A." label carried with sportsmen when making purchases of outdoor equipment, they found most respondents agreed that American-made products were of better quality and it was important to buy them. They also discovered, however, that there is only so much most hunters and anglers are willing to pay for that label.

When asked how important it is to buy fishing tackle or hunting equipment that is made in the U.S.A., nearly 89 percent of anglers said it was very or somewhat important, while 94 percent of hunters said it was very or somewhat important. At the same time, 47 percent of those anglers feel U.S.-made tackle is generally better in quality and 63 percent of hunters believe U.S.-made hunting gear is better than equipment made overseas.

So how much more are sportsmen willing to pay to support American jobs? If the "Made in U.S.A." product is five percent or less in cost, 85 percent of anglers and 89 percent of hunters report they will buy the American-made product. But after that, numbers begin to drop sharply, and once the U.S. product exceeds 20 to 30 percent in cost, only 34 percent of anglers and 36 percent of hunters say they are willing to pay the difference.

"All things being equal, sportsmen appreciate American quality and are certainly eager to support American jobs; however, it doesn't take much of a price difference before economic realities set in and hunters and anglers are forced to make important decisions about how much they will spend," said Rob Southwick, president of Southwick Associates, which designs and conducts the surveys.

"There is a reason why imported products take up so much retail space. Hunters and anglers, like all other consumers, want to get more for their limited dollars. As long as U.S. production costs remain high, whether related to taxes or other factors, imported products will continue to own a large share of the U.S. market."

To help continually improve, protect and advance the shooting sports and outdoor recreation, all sportsmen and sportswomen are encouraged to participate in the surveys at HunterSurvey.com, ShooterSurvey.com and/or AnglerSurvey.com. Each month, participants who complete the survey are entered into a drawing for one of five $100 gift certificates to the sporting goods retailer of their choice.

MassWildlife reported that 2013 hunting, sporting, fishing and trapping licenses now are available for purchase online at www.mass.gov/massfishhunt and at all license vendor locations, MassWildlife District offices and the West Boylston Field Headquarters. Anyone ages 15 or older needs a license in order to fish in fresh water or to hunt. Because it is possible to purchase a 2012 and a 2013 license in December, license buyers are reminded to be sure to select the correct year when buying their license.

Minors 15-17 years of age may not purchase their license online, but must have certain documentation in their possession when making their license purchase at a MassWildlife District office or walk-in license vendor location. Freshwater fishing licenses for minors ages 15-17 years of age are free.

Depending on weather and access to water, broodstock salmon stocking will begin in mid-December and will be completed by the end of the year. Each district will receive 124 fish, all from the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife's Roger Reed State Fish Hatchery in Palmer, and the fish will range in size from 5 to 12 pounds.

Stocking in our Southeast District is expected to begin either next week or the week after. The five ponds being stocked are Long and Little Ponds in Plymouth, Peters Pond in Sandwich and Cliff and Sheep Ponds in Brewster. When stocking is completed in the Southeast District and also in other districts, the list of stocked waters will be updated at mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/fisheries/anadromous/broodstock_salmon_stocking.htm

As an update to last week's column in which we talked about Black Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, setting a new national record for the most National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks in a single day — the month of November 2012 now is the record holder for the most background checks conducted in a single month, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). NICS checks are required of all guns sold at retail.

The total number reported for November 2012 is more than 1.5 million NICS checks for the month, driven largely by concerns after the reelection of President Obama and topping the previous high in December 2011 by 8.1 percent. Even as firearm sales have trended upward in recent years, statistics show that violent crime and firearms-related accidents continue to decrease, a fact that underscores more firearms do not lead to more crime and accidents.

Also last week, we talked about the serious delays in processing firearms license renewals in Massachusetts, creating criminals out of law-abiding gun owners as the delays are causing gun owners be in possession of firearms with expired licenses.

GOAL (Gun Owners' Action League) has been working on this but the state needs to hear from the gun owners experiencing long delays. GOAL says that House Speaker Robert DeLeo has agreed to look into the matter and asks that you send information about your licensing delays only (no restriction or denial issues) to Andrew Keegan, Speaker DeLeo's legislative aid at Andrew.Keegan@mahouse.gov

Moose hunting success in New Hampshire was down this year, according to preliminary figures from the NH Fish and Game Dept. which showed that 62 percent of hunters were successful in bagging their moose, compared to 71 percent last year. A total of 174 hunters out of 281 permits issued succeeded in taking their moose during the nine-day season. The breakdown for the harvest this year was 61 percent bulls and 39 percent cows.

Warm weather was one of the factors that attributed to the decrease in the overall success rate, according to biologists. Because moose have already grown their heavy winter coats, they tend to bed down during the day during unseasonably warm weather and wait until nightfall to move about when temperatures drop. Some hunters also reportedly cut their hunts short to head home before the arrival of developing Hurricane Sandy.

Preliminary numbers show moose hunters having the highest success in the North region at 82 percent, with 73 percent in the Connecticut Lakes Region, 64 percent in the White Mountain Region, 51 percent in the Central Region, 45 percent in the Southwest Region and 35 percent in the Southeast Region.

More than 13,400 people entered the moose hunt lottery. About 85 percent of the permits went to New Hampshire residents with the remaining 15 percent to nonresidents. The odds of winning a moose permit are about 1 in 26 for New Hampshire residents and 1 in 85 for nonresidents.

Vermont moose hunters had a successful hunting season according to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. The archery moose hunt was held Oct. 1-7, and the regular moose hunt was Oct. 20-25.

The preliminary count shows 17 moose being taken by 50 hunters in the archery season, and 205 moose taken by 385 hunters in the regular season. A total of 1,191 residents and 467 nonresidents entered the archery moose permit lottery, and 8,279 residents and 2,324 nonresidents entered the regular moose season lottery.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has not yet released harvest figures for its moose season, which ended on Nov. 10. The Department however, now has its most accurate count of the state's moose population, currently estimated at 76,000 animals. The estimate was determined by using a double count technique the last two winters where two observers independently reported the number of moose observed while flying in a helicopter over northern and eastern Maine.

Pennsylvania Game Commission officials recently announced that 52 elk were harvested by the 65 hunters awarded elk licenses for the recently concluded 2012 elk hunt, which was held Nov. 5-10. Of that total, 18 were antlered (bulls) and 34 were antlerless (cows).

The heaviest bull was an 840-pound (estimated live weight) 8x8 taken in Jay Township, Elk County. Other big bulls were: 775-pound 7x7; 758-pound, 7x7; 729-pound 7x7; and a 720-pound 6x6.

The first modern-day elk season was instituted in Pennsylvania in 2001 and 523 elk have been harvested since then. For more information on elk in Pennsylvania, visit the Game Commission's website, at portal.state.pa.us

Marc Folco is the outdoor writer for The Standard-Times. Contact him at openseason1988@aol.com

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